I've seen bits of Periyar. Will try to find if its online. Also, another classic social reform movie is "Agrahaaraththil Kazhudhai". Here's a review of the film. It's about a philosophy professor who gives refuge to a stray donkey and has to fight against bureaucracy and religious conservatives who insist he should get rid of it.

Just watched Kathal Kathai by director Velu Prabakaran, and I recommend it for those interested in feminist thinking and social attitudes concerning caste, women's rights, female nudity, lust and sex in India. The main message is that we should stop treating these subjects as taboo, because they are an essential component of our lives, and only open discussion on these subjects and making such discussions commonplace and normal can get rid of the abuse of women in India. The movie is pretty disturbing at times, so consider yourself forewarned. Also, be prepared to wade through a shitload of cheesy and immature male-female interaction.

My favorite line is very near the beginning even before the main part of the movie starts, when Prabakaran is in court and is asked why in a country where we look upon women as goddesses and virtuous he has captured them on screen in obscene and compromising positions, he replies that the idea that women are goddesses and virtuous is a lie that we have been telling women in order to keep them subjugated, and that we must view women as equal human beings first. This is the central thesis of my article here.

"Fossil rabbits in the Precambrian"
~ J.B.S.Haldane, on being asked to falsify evolution.

(01-Sep-2010, 08:25 PM)bala Wrote: Also, another classic social reform movie is "Agrahaaraththil Kazhudhai". Here's a review of the film. It's about a philosophy professor who gives refuge to a stray donkey and has to fight against bureaucracy and religious conservatives who insist he should get rid of it.

The film is now available in full on Youtube (without subtitles though):Part 1Part 2